Roof-connection for railway-cars



(No Model.) Y

- J. F. COLE & E. W. PARNO. ROOF GONNEGTION FOR RAILWAY CARS.

No. 400,305. 0 Patented Mar. '26, 1889..

N. FEIERS. mmumo her, Washington. 04 c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAY F. COLE AND EMIL W. PARNO, OF GREENE, IOWA.

ROOF-CON N ECTION FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,305, dated March26, 1889.

Application filed December 3, 1888. Serial No. 292,572. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JAY F. COLE and EMIL W. PARNO, citizens of Greene,residing at Greene, in the county of Butler and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Continuous Roofs forRailroad Coaches or Cars, of which the following is a description.

This invention relates to a device for closing the top portion of 'theopening between the ends of two adjoining cars; and it has for itsobject to provide means whereby cinders,

smoke, dust, and the like coming from the engine over the roofs of thecars may be excluded from entrance thereto, and also serves as a meansfor excluding snow and rain from the platform.

The invention will be fully understood from the following descriptionand claim, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of two adjoining cars,showing ourimprovements in position thereon. Fig. 2 is a view of onesection of the device removed from the car. Fig. 3 is a View of one ofthe brackets with a portion of one of the springs attached, showin g theset-screw for securing the spring upon the bracket.

Referring by letter to the said drawings, A A indicate the sections ofour improved device. These sections are each composed of parallel bars aa, which are curved somewhat longitudinally to conform to the curvatureof the car-roof, and one of the bars of each section is adapted to beattached to the end of a car-roof over the platform by screws or othersuitable fastening devices, so that is formed entire, is provided withan aper-;5o ture, 0, near its base or inner end, or at any suitablepoint, for the insertion of one end of the spiral or coiled springs D.

E indicates an internally-threaded aper ture which leads through therear of the bracket into the aperture 0 of the lug b, and relatively atright angles thereto.

F indicates a set-screw in the threaded aperture E of the bracket. Thisset-screw is designed to impinge against the inserted end of the springin the aperture of the lug and securely hold the same in position.

- By this construction it will be seen that the springs may be readilyattached or removed and replaced by others should any of them becomeimpaired or injured. These springs serve to keep the frame expanded orextended, so that the sections are always in position to adj ustablymeet the sections of an adjoining or abutting car.

The bars a, of each section are connected by a covering, which ofnecessity must be flexible, and this covering G should also befire-proof, as well as water-proof.

The covering fabric may be applied or attached at opposite edges to theconvex edges of the bars a by any suitable. means, care being taken tomake a tight joint. These devices are very effective in operation, andmay be manufactured at avery small expense and applied to cars withoutskilled labor.

Having described our invention, what we claim is- In a car attachmentsuch as described, the combination, with the parallelbars connected by aflexible covering, of expanding springs connect-ing said bars, thebrackets having a perforated lug adapted to receive the ends of thesprings, and a perforated aperture cominunicating with the perforationin the lug, 9o anda setscrew adapted to engage the ends of the springand secure the same in position, substantially as specified.

JAY F. COLE. EMIL W. PARNO.

WVitnesses:

O. C. HUCKINS, M. HARTNESS.

